What Smoking In Your Home Does To Non-Smokers

At this point, it would be borderline nonsensical to inform you that cigarette smoking causes disastrous health effects. If you’re a cigarette smoker, you are undoubtedly aware of the many health hazards you present yourself each and every time you light up. However, what you may not totally be conscious of is just how bad your habit is for the health of everyone who enters your home.

Secondhand smoke is a killer.

Secondhand smoke is really no different than the firsthand smoke you inhale from your cigarettes. As Health24.com makes clear, “exposure to second hand smoke is never safe as it is exactly the same smoke inhaled by smokers, containing the same harmful chemicals. There are as many as 7,000 chemicals in second hand smoke and 70 of these may lead to lung cancer. Apart from cancer second hand smoke is also associated with stroke and heart disease.”

Needless to say, if you smoke inside your home, you are putting all of its inhabitants at risk. And don’t assume that just because they may not be in the same room as you, the effects of your cigarette smoking habit are minimized. Obviously, smoke travels. However, smoke also attaches itself and seeps into the various elements of your home. We’re talking about the furniture, the walls, the carpets – you name it!

Thirdhand smoke is a killer as well.

“Third hand smoke can be problematic too,” Health24.com explains, “This refers to the harmful chemicals that are absorbed by upholstery and curtains and tend to linger for a long time.” On TheConversation.com, Jacqueline Hamilton reveals that a 2017 study found that mice exposed to household fabrics contaminated with thirdhand tobacco smoke showed health defects within a month.

“After six months, the mice showed evidence of liver damage and insulin resistance, symptoms which usually precede the development of type 2 diabetes,” she details, going on to mention that approximately 600,000 people die from exposure to secondhand tobacco smoke on a yearly basis.

Butting out is the only way to save the non-smokers in your life.

It may not be necessary, but allow us to state the obvious. When you quit smoking, it significantly improves your overall health. However, we must also reiterate that you are doing a huge favour for everyone in your family as well. The importance of butting out cannot be understated. This is especially true if you are a new parent. The Government of Alberta highlights just how necessary it is to keep babies away from thirdhand smoke.

“Children are more sensitive to being exposed to third-hand smoke because they breathe near, crawl on, play on, touch, and even taste (because they often put their hands in their mouths) surfaces contaminated with tobacco residue,” they note on MyHealth.Alberta.ca, “Experts on third-hand smoke recommend 100% smoke-free homes and vehicles. They also suggest that replacing furniture, carpets, drapes, etc., can greatly reduce exposure to third-hand smoke residue.”

At DF Technical & Consulting Services Ltd., we’d like to help you make the air quality in your home the purest it can be! For information about our Air Quality Services, please don’t hesitate to call us at 1-855-668-3131 or email info@dftechnical.ca.